Three days of exhibit hall programs to highlight datacom, cloud services, software-defined networking, network infrastructure, service provider integration and more

WHEN/WHERE: March 9 - 13 (Exhibits open March 11 - 13) at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, Calif.

DETAILS: As the most comprehensive international event for both the science and business of optical communications, this year’s event—with more than 12,000 attendees expected from around the globe, along with 550 exhibiting companies (47 percent based outside the U.S.) and more than 800 technical and business presentations—will host the entire scope of optical communications, providing technical programming, exhibits and other activities for all audiences from systems and components manufacturers to service providers, carriers and enterprises.

Three Exhibit Hall theaters of business programming, featuring presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations, including Verizon, Juniper, Google, Sprint, Microsoft, Cisco, Corning, the Ethernet Alliance, Optical Internetworking Forum, Fiber to the Home Council, Open Networking Foundation, and many others.

Local Representation from more than 100 California-based companies on the show floor, including Broadcom, Intel, JDSU, Juniper Networks, NeoPhotonics and more.

This three-day series of panel sessions engages the applications and business communities in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel discussions feature esteemed guest speakers from the industry, research and investment communities, including InphiCorp, JDSU, Cisco and others. Topics covered this year include the state of the industry, data center architecture and content delivery strategies, and a realistic dissection of the possibilities of PIC vs. silicon photonics.

Service Provider Summit - Wednesday, March 12, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

This program features topics of interest to CTOs, network architects, network designers and technologists within the service provider and carrier sector. Keynote speaker Randy Nicklas, executive vice president – engineering and chief technology officer at Windstream, will present A Division of Labor: The Evolving Roles of Packet Optical and OTN Technologies at Windstream. Panels include “Packet Optical Convergence” and “Network Evolution” and feature leaders from a global slate of service providers and end users, including Comcast, ESNET, Ovum, and more.

The Buzz – A Real-time Look at the News and Trends Happening at OFC 2014 - Wednesday, March 12, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

This session will feature real-time analysis of the 2014 OFC show floor buzz, including analysis of exhibiting companies’ on-site news announcements and what they mean to the industry. An unscripted “fireside chat,” this program will offer an inside look with three industry experts discussing the hot exhibitor news announcements, trends and show buzz—offering an exclusive real-time industry insider’s perspective.

This presentation addresses the efforts underway in the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) to support optical transport networks. Software Defined Networking (SDN) has gained significant traction in the data center, primarily motivated by rapid adoption of cloud technologies. OpenFlow, the first SDN standard, was originally developed to address Ethernet switches and routers. As major carriers turn to SDN to address the cloud, as well as explosive growth in multi-media mobile traffic, it is imperative to extend OpenFlow to support optical transport networks. This presentation addresses the trends motivating adoption of SDN in optical transport networks, while examining the OpenFlow-based SDN value proposition, anticipated benefits, target use cases, and standardization status.

The panel will include an update on the National Photonics Initiative's effort to support optical communications, and will also review and compare current technology roadmaps for optical communications. There are multiple, overlapping roadmapping efforts, varying by the length of the interconnect and whether the aim is for a basic technology capability or for standard-setting.

The Future of the Metro Core: A New and Innovative Approach to Delivering Scalable, Yet Simplified – Tuesday March 11, 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Three presentations by Juniper Networks’ Jun Shi, senior director of product management; Colby Barth, distinguished engineer; and Kireeti Kompella, senior vice president and CTO, addressing the new technologies and architecture that will lead to a more agile and dynamic metro core.

The Art and Science of NPI Operations in the Fiber Optic and Telecommunications Industry - Wednesday March 12, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Intense competition and shorter market windows are necessitating fiber optic and telecommunications companies to execute flawlessly in their new product endeavors, of which a significant, though often neglected, aspect is New Product Introduction (NPI) operations. The panel discussion will underscore the fine art and the science of blending the global coordination of talent, preparation, technology transfer, managing diversities across cultures, establishing contingency plans, processes and systems.

SDN has often been a source of confusion in the networking industry, but as the paradigm matures, has the industry gained clarity on what SDN is? Has it converged on a definition? What is an SDN controller? Is a controller an abstract definition of the SDN control paradigm? What are the SDN applications that garnered most traction thus far and why? What are the drivers - cost, service, or other things? This program is targeted to address these questions and shed light on the state of the network industry.

Passive Optical LAN– Thursday March 13, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Service providers and building owners must decide on what solution is best for deploying fiber- based LANs. Using proven products, a passive optical LAN is simple, secure, scalable, stable, sustainable, provides greater bandwidth, requires less power, and costs less than a copper system. Fiber cabling is smaller, lighter, stronger, higher bandwidth, longer reach, and longer life than copper cabling. Fiber is also less susceptible to interference, faster to install, more secure, and less costly. This session will explain what a passive optical LAN is and the benefits it provides to LAN owners and operators.

POF Symposium – Thursday, March 13, 1 - 4 p.m.

The Plastic Optical Fiber Trade Organization (POFTO) is organizing a POF Symposium during OFC 2014 that will cover recent developments in POF technology, applications, technical standards, industry progress and new markets. Speakers from around the world will review opportunities for POF in areas such as Gigabit POF, high-temperature POF, aerospace & automobile applications, new GI-POF fabrication techniques, POF sources, IPTV, consumer devices and POF sensors, among others.

​Cloud computing already has widespread impact across how we access today’s applications, resources, and data. Yet many issues around cloud computing need to be addressed, including but not limited to security, reliability, architecture, and economics. In this session sponsored by the IEEE Cloud Computing Initiative (CCI), panelists will discuss open issues and solutions for cloud computing, communications, and networking, including the impact of cloud computing on network infrastructures, ways to deal with the exponential increase in the number of network-connected devices, the use of reconfigurable networks that allocate resources where and when they are needed to help deliver any service or application when the user demands it, standards as an enabler of cloud interoperability, and the role of SDN and programmable infrastructures that are cheaper and simpler to manage than current networks

The photonics industry continues to be a dynamic market in which innovation takes place at a breathtaking pace. And much of this innovation is driven by startup companies. While many people like to start a company and many admire the startups that made it big, the process of starting a company can be challenging. The aim of this workshop is to provide practical guidelines and dos and don'ts by featuring a number of seasoned entrepreneurs who tell their story. The focus of the presentations is to share key insights and lessons learned that are useful for any entrepreneur wanting to start a company or develop a new business.

Optical layer flexibility has increased significantly in the last several years with technology advances such as CDC ROADMs, photonic mesh, and FlexiGrid. Layer 0 intelligence portends to increase even further in the future. How can service providers fully leverage that flexibility in multi-layer service networks? How can SDN-based management and control architectures help?

About OFC
For more than 35 years, OFC has been the premier destination for converging breakthrough research and innovation in telecommunications, optical networking, fiber optics and, recently, datacom and computing. Consistently ranked in the top 200 tradeshows in the United States, and named one of the Fastest Growing Trade Shows in 2012 by TSNN, the conference unites service providers, systems companies, enterprise customers, IT businesses, and component manufacturers, with researchers, engineers, and development teams from around the world. OFC includes dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 550 companies, and cutting-edge peer-reviewed research that, combined, showcase the trends and pulse of the entire optical networking and communications industry. OFC is managed by The Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc), and the IEEE Photonics Society. OFC 2014 takes place March 9-13 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif., USA.